A day after the 20,000-square-foot home of jailed NFL star Michael Vick went on the auction block, there is still no one willing to cough up the $3.2 million required to gobble it up. To have an opportunity to even bid on the eight-bedroom luxury home in the suburban Atlanta neighborhood of Duluth, one needed to present a cashier’s check for $160,000, which is half of the required 10-percent deposit. But not even the two prequalified bidders, Seema Jain of Virtual Properties and Narender Reddy of Metro Brokers/GMAC had the cashier’s check. Read the rest.

Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston aren’t reuniting. Fans hoping to view more of the train-wreck-like drama that was Bobby Brown’s marriage to Whitney Houston won’t get their wish. Despite photos recently showing the divorced pair at a romantic dinner together in Georgia, they’ll reportedly remain apart. A spokesperson for Houston says the pair remains “good friends whose primary interest is the well-being of their daughter.” Houston and Brown divorced after 15 years in 2007.

Wyclef’s Miami Beach crib is up for auction. Rapper, singer and producer Wyclef is the latest high-profile celebrity to suffer from America’s home foreclosure epidemic. The Grammy-winner’s Miami Beach spot is due to be auctioned in a Florida court after ‘Clef reportedly borrowed $2 million from Home Equity Mortgage Corp. A series of construction liens were filed against the company the performer co-owns, leading to the burden and eventual bank action.

Rapper is “super-devastated” by mom’s death. Could the frustration of grief over his mom’s death be behind Kanye West’s recent clashes with photographers? Maybe it’s a coincidence, but just days after People magazine published West’s first public comments on losing his parent, the rapper is explaining his second arrest in three months. Kanye was questioned by police in England, but not charged this past weekend after a cameraman claimed the rapper shoved his camera into his face, causing a cut. West took to his blog to write about the incident outside Newcastle’s Tup Tup Club: “I put my hand up to the camera in self-defense! …My security yelled, ‘Get the camera off him!’ I guess, in all the commotion, the camera scraped his nose.” West barely escaped felony charges in September when he and an assistant were caught on video destroying another photographer’s equipment at an airport. Instead, West was issued a misdemeanor. He further blogs, “When will there be a law passed that simply enforces that someone has to ask to take a photograph of you?” People quoted West as saying that his mother’s death, due to cosmetic surgery complications last year, left him “super-devastated. I didn’t do any interviews after my mom passed,” he tells the mag. “I wasn’t ready to speak about [it]. Now I’d rather talk it through than commit suicide. …I feel like I moved to California, then my mom moved to California, and she did stuff she wouldn’t have done if we’d stayed in Chicago. If I’d never made it in the music business, it never would’ve happened.”

Ex-millionaire label head’s financial woes continue. Former Roc-a-Fella Records boss Damon Dash doesn’t have “a pot to p–s in,” says a lawyer who recently sued him. “They’re broke,” Jason Gabbard says of Dash and his wife, following a suit over $148,505 in unpaid fees. The lawyer tells The New York Daily News that Dash owed a fashion firm the cash before the suit was settled. Earlier this year, the entertainment entrepreneur’s New York home was reported in foreclosure, and just this month his Chevy Tahoe was seized after he reportedly stopped paying the $714.99 monthly lease. If that’s not enough, Dash faces an outstanding debt of $2.1 million in New York state taxes and at least three other pending suits and unpaid tabs.

Mortgage giants propose a rescue plan. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance giants now controlled by the U.S. government, said Tuesday that they planned a broad new effort to reduce the loan burdens of homeowners facing foreclosure. The program will be offered to people who are at least 90 days behind on their payments and already have paid for the bulk of their mortgage, according to government officials. The plan is to change the mortgage by reducing the interest rate so that the monthly loan payment is no higher than 38 percent of the borrower’s monthly income. The government plan could help as many as 300,000 families that are delinquent in their mortgage payments at taxpayer expense, reports The Washington Post. But people with knowledge of the details said Tuesday that it was more limited than a program advocated by Sheila Bair, chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The plan may apply only to so-called conforming mortgages that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have guaranteed. While there are trillions of dollars worth of those loans, they are far less than, and generally separate from, the bulk of subprime loans that are at the heart of the nation’s foreclosure crisis. The foreclosure rate on loans owned by Fannie Mae is about 1.72 percent. By contrast, the foreclosure rate on adjustable-rate subprime loans is nearly 20 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Another “Extreme Makeover” home faces foreclosure.

As usual, the ABC TV “Extreme Makeover” storyline was enough to elicit tears from even the most stoic viewer: a middle-age, African-American former drug addict, who flipped her life and became a positive force for the less fortunate in her community, was awarded a beautiful dream home. But that six-bedroom luxury crib, which was awarded to Floridian Sadie Holmes two years ago, is about to be foreclosed on.  The New York Daily News reports that more than $30,000 in liens have been filed against the Seminole County, Fla., home for a series of unpaid housing code violations. Holmes said initially that she was grateful for the home, has since said that it has caused her unbelievable stress and problems, the News reports. It isn’t the first time recipients have been foreclosed on – some unable to keep up with tax payments and other expenses of newly acquired luxury homes. But Holmes’ case is unique. Once she was given the home, it became the headquarters for her charity work. After the national exposure, she was flooded with supplies to distribute to the needy. The stuff piled up, and Holmes’ home was slapped with about $29,000 in fines.

Entrepreneur’s financial, personal challenges mount

Damon Dash’s custody challenge continues. Damon Dash’s troubles seem to be increasing as 2008 progresses. Following widespread reports of home foreclosure action against him and the loss of his licensing agreement with Pro-Keds, the Roc-a-fella Records co-founder is dealing with ongoing child custody grief. Dash recently filed a motion to force the mother of his son, Damon “Boogie” Dash Jr., to return him to Damon Sr. The film and music entrepreneur has sole legal custody. A judge this week threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Linda Williams if Boogie wasn’t brought home. A lawyer representing the teenager says he wants to remain with his mother.

Whites-only sign lands a man in jail. Police in Niagra Falls, N.Y., have arrested a 52-year-old former longtime city worker who hung a “Whites Only” on a drinking fountain at the Department of Public Works earlier this month. Authorities say that James Curtis was nabbed at his home Friday morning. Later in the day, police announced that he had been arrested on charges of second-degree aggravated harassment, which is classified as a hate crime. Curtis, who worked for the Department of Public Works for 26 years, is scheduled to be arraigned in Niagara Falls City Court this morning. WGRZ-TV in New York reports that investigators were able to track Curtis down by analyzing handwriting samples.

Virginia’s foreclosures triple

The number of foreclosures in Virginia tripled last month over the same period last year. In Prince William County, the jurisdiction with the highest foreclosure rate in the state,  one in every 103 houses is in a state of foreclosure, including default notices, auction sales and bank repossessions, The Washington Post reports. Loudon County is second in line with foreclosures that rose from 378 to 581 – a 54-percent spike, according to RealtyTrac, which monitors filings throughout the country. Loudoun’s foreclosure rate works out to about one of every 169 house. In the more affluent Fairfax County, the foreclosure rate was significantly slower – one of every 226 houses – but still high enough to evoke concerns. In Arlington County’s, one in every 1,357 houses was in a state of foreclosure. Statewide, some 5,745 foreclosures were filed last month. Virginia has the 10th-highest rate in the country last month, RealtyTrac reported. The number of homes in the United States facing foreclosure in July jumped 55 percent from the year before. “Bank repossessions . . . continued to be the fastest-growing segment of foreclosure activity in July,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement. “The sharp rise in [bank repossessions], combined with slow sales, has resulted in a bloated inventory of bank-owned properties for sale.”

.Music entrepreneur hasn’t paid mortgage since January

Donald Trump recently bailed TV legend Ed McMahon out of home foreclosure, so maybe he can help Damon Dash, too. The co-founder of Roc-a-Fella Records hasn’t made a payment on his $78,504.20-per-month mortgage since January, according to The New York Post. Dash and his wife, Rachel Roy, are in jeopardy of losing their New York residence after taking out a $7.3 million loan on two Tribeca properties. The former hip-hop heavyweight reportedly owed $2 million in back taxes last year and has been fighting back debtors, despite an estimated $50 million net worth.

Astros’ Chacon axed after admitting to assault
Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon doesn’t like rudeness. Just ask his team’s general manager Ed Wade, who Chacon allegedly grabbed by the throat and threw to the ground, resulting in Chacon’s firing this week. Chacon was reportedly displeased with having been sent to the bullpen last weekend when Wade requested a word with the pitcher. “I sat down to eat and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, ‘You need to come with me to the office,’” Chacon says. “I said, ‘For what?’… And I said, ‘You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, you want me to tell you right here?’… He started yelling and cussing. I’m sitting there and I said to him very calmly, ‘Ed, you need to stop yelling at me.’ Then I stood up and said, ‘You better stop yelling at me.’” Wade’s suggestion that Chacon “look in the mirror” pushed the pitcher to his limit: “So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him. Words were exchanged.” And probably not “How’s the family?” either. Playa Hater has the latest dev

Former hoops pro could lose Connecticut crib
Latrell Sprewell and Evander Holyfield aren’t the only names from the sports world facing major financial problems. Ex-NBA star Vin Baker’s Connecticut home is set for auction after falling behind on payments for his nearly 10,000-square-foot Connecticut home. The price is set at $2.3 million. The loss of the home would be Baker’s second foreclosure after his restaurant, Vinnie’s Saybrook Fish House, closed its doors earlier this year.

Rose returns home as Bulls select PG
Looking to bolster their backcourt, the Chicago Bulls select Chicago native Derrick Rose with the top selection in the 2008 NBA Draft. Where did Michael Beasley land? More at Playa Hater.

http://blogs.bet.com/news/playahater/?p=672